1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to air cooling systems, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for mounting and removing overhead cooling unit assemblies in cooling enclosures of the type used to house data processing, networking, and telecommunications equipment.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Electronic equipment, such as computer servers, telecommunications equipment, uninterruptible power supplies, and similar equipment is often mounted in racks. A number of different standards have been developed to enable equipment manufacturers to design rack mountable equipment that can be mounted in standard racks manufactured by different manufacturers. One such standard is the Electronic Industries Alliance's EIA-310-D standard which defines parameters for what has become an industry standard nineteen inch equipment rack.
Nineteen inch equipment racks are used extensively in data centers and other facilities. With the proliferation of the Internet, it is not uncommon for a data center to contain hundreds of these equipment racks.
The electronic equipment mounted in electronic equipment racks produces heat. It is often desirable to remove heat generated by the electronic equipment in order to, for example, maintain the electronic equipment at a suitable operating temperature.
One solution that has been developed for the removal of heat generated by electronic equipment mounted in electronic equipment racks in a data center includes arranging multiple equipment racks in rows in such a manner that the equipment racks are in a side-to-side arrangement. A first row of equipment racks is positioned so that fronts of the equipment racks face outwardly from a center aisle. Similarly, a second row of equipment racks is positioned so that the fronts of the equipment racks face outwardly from the center aisle and backs of the equipment racks in the second row face backs of the equipment racks in the first row. The arrangement is such that cool air is drawn through the fronts of the equipment racks to cool the electronic equipment housed within the equipment racks. Hot air is exhausted through the backs of the equipment racks into the center aisle. The center aisle is sometimes referred to as the “hot” or “warm” aisle.
Warm air is directed from the equipment racks towards the hot aisle. The warm air rises, thus creating a situation in which the ceiling of the data center may become too warm. This situation may negatively affect the climate control and management within the data center. An air cooling system made up of multiple individual cooling units may be placed above the warm aisle in order to remove the warm air or to cool the air within the warm aisle.
Larger capacity cooling units are often ceiling mounted over the hot aisle. Lower capacity cooling units are often rack mounted, but not over the hot aisle. Ceiling mounting of the larger capacity units often involves individually hanging the units from a ceiling structure.